TAUNTON — The two-way race for a seat on the Bristol County Board of Commissioners has started to get a little chippy.

New Bedford’s John Saunders defended himself against criticism leveled by Taunton candidate Dan Dermody, and said that Dermody was resorting to negative attacks. Last week, Dermody referred to a controversial 2012 vote by Saunders, who, along with others on New Bedford City Council, unanimously approved pay raises for themselves during a late-night meeting.

“Dan Dermody is trying to find something to latch himself onto,” said Saunders, who served the New Bedford City Council for 28 years before losing his re-election bid in 2013.

Saunders said that he was just one of 11 people to vote for it, and he compared it to other typically unpopular votes that elected officials must sometimes make.

“Obviously, when you put the amount of time I’ve put in, and you take votes that aren’t popular, whether they be a pay raise, creating a sewer fee or a landfill closure, or citing of different things, sometimes those votes aren’t popular votes,” Saunders said. “You don’t need someone who is only on for the popular vote. I have taken over 10,000 votes, and with every vote you take you make some people happy and some sad. … I’m not going backwards in time, Dan, I’m moving forward.”

Dermody said that he only called attention to the late-night vote when responding to a reporter’s question. Dermody said that it was one of the only things he knew about Saunders, whom he has met once. Dermody said he was differentiating Saunders from his cousin, Chris Saunders, the current county treasurer, whom he has worked with in the past.

“The only thing I do know are the facts,” Dermody said. “He was voted out of office as a city councilor and the reason was that he basically told the voters, with the pay raise, to vote him out of office. And they did. Those are facts.”

Dermody, who was in New Bedford on Thursday on the radio, said that he’s “not running this for personal political gain,” but instead to utilize the skills and knowledge he has developed working about 20 years for the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office, as an assistant for special projects. Dermody is also chairman of the Taunton Planning Board.

“I have experience and working knowledge on the three main responsibilities of the county commissioner, including the oversight of the Registry of Deeds and county-owned court buildings, the need to redevelop county properties, and policy oversight and budget oversight,” Dermody said.

Dermody also pointed to his five years working for the Purina Mills, as his background in the agricultural world. The Bristol County Board of Commissioners is responsible for overseeing the Bristol County Agricultural High School.

Page 2 of 3 - “I have practical as well as academic knowledge and experience to lend to the (Bristol) Aggie school, and I can hit the ground running,” Dermody said.

In addition to his City Council experience, Saunders pointed to his career as a property manager for 20 years, along with his work as the chairman of the New Bedford Finance Committee.

“Serving 28 years as a city councilor, you learn a lot about how to get things done in government,” said Saunders, who has two decades of experience as a facilities manager at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Saunders said he will let the voters judge for themselves about his qualifications and whether he is best for the job.

“I’m not a campaigner about attacks,” he said. “I’m trying to sell John Saunders to the voters of Bristol County. … He must be getting desperate if he’s talking about me. I have never mentioned him in my life. I’m not that kind of guy.”

Dermody said that he is the best man for the job because he has actual experience working in registries of deeds in the state, as a special project assistant in 2004, when most registries became state-run registries. Dermody said he was assigned to the Middlesex Registry of Deeds, to help bring the real estate registry’s technology into the 21st century.

“I feel I am the most qualified candidate for this position and I stand by that,” Dermody said. “It’s all about balanced representation with (Bristol) Aggie school, to keep its rural character and quickly bringing kids into the 21st century. Also, increasing technology at Registry of Deeds … and keeping customer service available at the Registry of Deeds for people that don’t have access to the technology.”

Saunders said if he is elected, he wants to implement a program to assist fire chiefs throughout the county in providing fire-safety services and resources to residents in need in case of a disaster. A technical rescue response program would by established by the Bristol County Commissioners in conjunction with the Bristol County Fire Chiefs Association.

Dermody recently received the endorsement of outgoing, longtime Commissioner Maria Lopes, who is also from Taunton. Lopes has spoken about keeping balance within the county, by making sure a Taunton citizen has a spot on the commission.

Saunders recently said, “I want to represent the whole county, not just the northern half.”

The three-person Bristol County Board of Commissioners typically meets each Tuesday at 4 p.m. in a second-floor meeting room at the Taunton Superior Courthouse.

Commissioners oversee all county properties, including several functioning courthouse buildings in Taunton, New Bedford and Attleboro. They also oversee a former courthouse building in Fall River, which is now home to a children’s museum, and another aging courthouse building in Taunton.

Page 3 of 3 - The board is responsible for the budget and Registry of Deeds buildings in Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford.

It is also tasked with employment decisions at the Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton, which has more than 75 employees, in addition to a team of maintenance employees who take care of county buildings and a small staff at a county print shop in New Bedford.

Only three Bristol County-owned properties — the Attleboro District Courthouse, the Attleboro Registry of Deeds satellite office and the Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton — are located outside the three core cities of Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford.

Chris Saunders, a New Bedford attorney, is running unopposed for re-election as the Bristol County treasurer — the only other elected position in Bristol County government. Chris Saunders has held the position since 2011, after having served as a county commissioner since January 1997.

“I enjoy doing the job, serving the public,” Chris Saunders said.

Saunders, who oversees a pension system that now fluctuates around $560,000, said that he looks forward to the next term and plans to implement new programs to help local communities. One initiative Saunders is pursuing is to expand payroll services offered to communities in Bristol County.

Saunders, who serves as chairman of the Bristol County Retirement Board, said the return on investments for the county’s retirement group was nearly 18 percent last year.

“We look to continue on having good results on our investments to get our funding schedule down and the pension system fully funded,” Saunders said.

Saunders said it is an interesting time for the county budget, which has hovered around $18.5 million, after the state Legislature voted to get rid of “maintenance of effort” fees the county took on after the state took over the Bristol County Sheriff’s Department. That will save the county $925,000 a year, while Bristol County recoups $4.5 million that the county government paid over the last five years, in installments over the course of the next decade, Saunders said.

This year, the budget has still not been set. County commissioners continue to refine the budget after the Legislature approved the bill, Saunders said. The county’s advisory board has not yet scheduled a meeting to pass the budget as they continue to work out the details, he said.